Wacky Wall Walkers!!!

Remember Wacky Wall Walkers? 

No… didn’t think so. They were gummy-like sticky toys that came with the purchase of certain General Mills cereals in the eighties. It was a spider I think, or maybe an octopus. I couldn’t wait for another box of cereal to get the next toy because by the time the original box was empty the spider had lost its stickiness. The idea was to throw the gummy spider with the sticky legs at the window and watch it slowly ‘walk’ its way down. It only worked a little bit right out of the package on the first throw. After, it dropped to the floor and picked up lint and hair which meant the next throw would stay on the glass for half the time. You might get in a third toss in before having to take it to the sink and wash the gunk off the spider’s legs.

I never got tired of hoping the new toy would be better than the old. “Maybe next time was the mantra.” It might even ‘walk’ from window to floor like a spider should. Despite all the evidence of the failure that was this toy, I tore through the plastic every time and fell for the scam anew. Ok…so it wasn’t a scam really, just a silly toy with hardly any value outside the cereal box. I don’t remember being super frustrated or annoyed with the lack of progress. I am sure at least once I chucked it across the room in a dramatic fit of 7 year old angst, cheated by adults again!

What I most remember is the eagerness to try again, use a different strategy. Hot water only this time, a counterclockwise method of scrubbing the carpet fibers off the tentacles or maybe cleaning the window to a streak free shine, all were options. I never quit thinking of new methods for getting the toy to perform, or to look like the one on the freaking cereal box! What was my drive then? Did I really not understand that the toy was junk and never intended to do a full walk down the bay window like the advertising promised? of course not. Every new package represented the chance to start over, to get it right, to make the toy walk.

The great thing about kids is they are rarely discouraged out of an activity despite how upset they get at the time. Their limited life experience doesn’t promise anything, hope is eternal and the future is still in front of them. Adults are different. Most of us have let someone down or been let down at some point. Ask most of us and we can tell you what we are good, bad or indifferent at. We’ve tried getting a degree in one skill or discipline but dropped out when it got expensive and difficult. We work at relationships for a while but quit win they get tough or don’t deliver some level of happiness.  

I can’t remember all the resumes I’ve held off sending to employers because of previous rejections. What happened to that determination to wash off the gunk and try again or beg Dad for a new box of Golden Grahams and hope for a better spider? I forgot how to climb uphill and got content to sit and have lunch. 

I imagine we push forward with resolve as kids because our memory pool is shallow and we don’t know that failure could be right around the corner. We haven’t built up a tolerance for it, thank God.

Adults need to get back to the resilience toward life that kids employ naturally. We give up on bettering ourselves too easy and slide into mediocrity by not moving forward and not ignoring the times we fall. It probably starts in adolescence, the sorting of talents or lack of talent into groups. Some is unintentional, no one wants to pick Eric for basketball so he ‘learns’ not to pursue it. Much is intentional though and based on aptitude or intelligence. Kara gets put in low level reading groups and struggles with other subjects. Tests tell us what we are good at and instead of working on the bad, low skill/low aptitude, we pursue the good.

Failure leads to more failure and a general turning away from activities that caused pain and embarrassment sets in. The first casualty in the mind war is determination. Once that dies we start to see other challenges the same way. Never get picked for basketball? Don’t bother with football.” “Can’t play the piano? don’t even try guitar.” “Struggle with math? don’t take physics.”

The only way to reverse the pattern is to keep trying that thing that looks so impossible. Celebrate the small victories. Keep buying the cereal box with additional crappy toys and refuse to be frustrated. Interview for the job even when it seems daunting and re-apply if they reject you. When someone says “You’re acting like a child” say “thank you!” and then give them a wedge.

Most importantly get back to a place where effort wins and hope springs eternal. A place where sticky toys are all the rage.